Cates returns to Eastern Randolph High School

staff reports

Wednesday

May 30, 2018 at 10:57 AMMay 30, 2018 at 4:34 PM

RAMSEUR - Burton Cates is back at Eastern Randolph High School.

The longtime Wildcats head football coach, who resigned his head coaching position at Lee County High School just a few months ago, was officially hired back at ERHS on Wednesday. Cates, who spent 25 years as the Wildcats’ coach before leaving for Lee County where he spent nine seasons, met with ER players Wednesday morning in the school’s media center.

Cates, who led LCHS to a 74-37 record over the past nine seasons, led the Wildcats to the 2006 state championship and has an overall record of 310-118. Cates will take over for Charles Arrington, who returned to ERHS from Lee County last fall to lead the football team for one season. Arrington will be the assistant head coach next season.

“It is home,” Cates said. “My goal was to get closer to home and I ended up at home. It’s exciting and a challenge. Nothing is ever as good as it seems or as bad as it seems. The pieces to the puzzle are there to get started on the right foot. Coach Arrington and his staff did a great job of getting those kids in the weight room.”

Cates said his comments to the players Wednesday were much the same as the ones he said 10, 15, 20 years ago.

“I haven’t changed a whole lot,” Cates said about his time away from ER. “It’s like I told them this morning, I have talked to your dads, uncles, cousins, brothers and relatives and it’s pretty much the same thing. I used the same notes.”

ERHS Athletic Director Lou Peters said hiring Cates was a no-brainer.

“What can you say?” Peters asked. “It’s like getting Vince Lombardi back to the Green Bay Packers. He’s a legend here. The stadium is named after him and just to have him back on the sidelines will mean more to this school and this community than just about everything.”

Arrington agrees.

“I think we made a great decision,” Arrington said on the hiring of Cates. “It’s an opportunity to bring back a wonderful mentor, coach and community guy who is excited to be here. He bleeds green and gold. We feel we made a move in a positive direction. I’m not moving out, just moving over. We are trying to treat this program like family. We want to get the community and the alumni back involved. We told these kids we were going to do what is best for them and we wouldn’t leave any stone unturned. I think we are turning over a big stone now and we are ultra-excited. This is the best thing for the kids, the community and everyone involved.”

Arrington said not only will he remain on the coaching staff, but he’ll be handling other duties as well.

“We have a lot of stuff going on,” Arrington said. “We are trying to bring back football camps, youth football, flag football. We are trying to work on the future of Eastern Randolph football.”

Cates, who was named as the head coach of the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas in 2013 and was on the East-West All-Star Game staff in 1995, said talks of returning in some capacity started in the summer of 2017.

“When Charles came as head coach, we talked about me possibly coming back in some capacity,” Cates said. “But we made a commitment to those kids (at Lee County) last year and it was so late. I told Charles we would come back in any capacity needed if they wanted us.”

Cates is currently putting his coaching staff together. His son, Foster, who was with him at Lee County, is still under contract there. Cates said he hopes to work things out to get his son with him at ER.

Cates said he has kept in close contact with the ER program over the years, not from a coaching standpoint but from a supporter who wished success to the players, coaching staff and program. Now as the head coach of that program, he said he will hope to instill the “ER culture.”

“It’s a culture that they want to be as successful as they possibly can be,” Cates said. “It doesn’t go just because Burton Cates is there. It’s surrounding yourself with good people and having an administration that is committed to excellence not only in football, but in English class and Vocational class and on the tennis courts. I definitely see that in this administration. They want the best for these kids in Randolph County. I want to put a team on that field that the community can be proud of and say, ‘That is Eastern Randolph.’ “

On Friday nights, Cates will have the honor of walking the sidelines in a stadium named after him.

“It was a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” Cates said. “I have great respect for what people have done for us to have gotten to that point. It just goes back to the profession as far as coaching. I have been truly blessed. It's a blessing for me to come back. There were some very special people in this community that made it special. I have such great pride in Eastern Randolph.”

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